4

CHAPTER 4

I’M NOT HER.

The new room was smaller… I realized it the moment I opened my eyes.

It had a smaller bed, a smaller fireplace, and smaller walls closing tighter around me, like the house itself had grown tired of my attempts to escape.

And oh… the windows no longer opened.

I stood in front of them anyway, my fingertips pressing uselessly against the cold glass while the lake stretched endlessly beyond it.

My reflection stared back faintly at me through the window. Pale skin, hollow eyes, tangled dark hair… I barely looked human anymore.

Only three days inside this house, and already it felt like pieces of me were disappearing quietly into the walls.

Everything here ran with terrifying precision.

Breakfast arrived at eight, lunch at one, and dinner at seven. The guards rotated every four hours, and every night, just before midnight, footsteps stopped outside my door and remained there for exactly thirty seconds before walking away again.

At some point, I started counting everything because routine was the only thing keeping the panic from swallowing me whole.

The maid arrived that evening balancing a tray in trembling hands. She couldn’t have been much older than me.

Placing the tray down quickly, she immediately turned for the door.

“Wait.”

The word escaped before I could stop it, making her freeze. My heart thumped heavily against my chest as I reached beneath the mattress and pulled out the diamond earrings from my wedding dress.

The only valuable thing I had left.

“I just need help getting out,” I whispered, stepping closer carefully. “Please.”

Her eyes widened immediately. “No.”

“I’ll give you these.” My fingers shook slightly as I held the earrings out toward her. “Just tell me which exit has the fewest guards.”

For one terrible second, hesitation crossed her face, and hope bloomed in my chest. Then fear replaced it just as quickly.

“You shouldn’t have asked me that,” she whispered.

The door opened behind her, and Lucien was standing there. I didn't even hear footsteps.

The maid went pale instantly. She lowered her head and rushed past him so quickly she nearly tripped over herself trying to leave.

Silence filled the room as my fingers tightened instinctively around the earrings.

Lucien’s eyes dropped to them first, then slowly lifted to mine, his soft voice ringing in my ears.

“You tried bribing my staff.”

I swallowed hard and forced myself not to step back. “I just wanted to leave.”

"It's clear now. You're just stupid.”

How the hell can he be so calm with these words!?

His tone ticked me off. “I’m not your prisoner.”

His eyebrow lifted slightly. “No?” he asked softly. “Then what do you think you are?”

Something in my chest tightened, hating the way he looked at me. I started backing away without realizing it until my shoulders hit the wall.

Lucien kept walking toward me slowly, his polished shoes silent against the marble floor. Fear crawled higher into my throat with every inch he closed between us.

“I don’t belong here,” I whispered.

“No,” he agreed quietly. “You don’t.”

Before I could understand what he meant, his hand wrapped suddenly around my throat. I gasped sharply even though he held me with just enough to pin me against the wall and remind me exactly how easily he could.

My hands flew instinctively to his wrist, fingers digging against the fabric of his shirt while my pulse spiraled wildly beneath his palm.

“Listen carefully,” he murmured. “You have no allies here.”

My breathing turned uneven as his thumb shifted slightly against my throat. The movement sent something hot and terrifying through my stomach.

Hanging between the prey and death doors, I noticed him.

Fuck!!

The clean scent of cedar and expensive cologne wafted through my nostrils as my eyes picked the faint shadow of stubble along his jaw and the scar near the corner of his mouth.

And his eyes… they looked even greener up close.

“You understand?” he asked quietly.

I couldn't answer immediately because my eyes chose that time to drop traitorously to his lips.

His grip tightened slightly, his gaze darkening almost imperceptibly before dropping to my lips for the briefest second.

What the hell was wrong with me!!??

This man is a devil in human skin! Why is my heart beating like this!?

Lucien’s thumb brushed once against the side of my throat before he stepped back abruptly. Cold air rushed between us again as I dragged in a shaky breath.

He stared at me for a long moment before turning toward the dinner tray near the fireplace.

“You should eat.”

I wrapped my arms around myself tightly, trying to steady my breathing. “You came to threaten me some more?”

Instead of answering, he pulled out one of the chairs at the table and sat down with a calm, terrifying composure.

“What are the drives?” I asked suddenly.

For the first time since meeting him, Lucien went completely still.

“You don’t know?” he asked quietly.

“If I knew, I would’ve told you already.”

His eyes searched my face carefully enough to make my stomach tighten.

“People lie when they’re afraid.”

“And people point guns at strangers when they’re insane.”

His gaze hardened. “What did you say!?”

I clamped my mouth shut, rolling my tongue to the back of my throat. Silence settled heavily between us before he shifted his gaze towards the worn copy of Jane Eyre sitting near the bed.

“You read often.”

“Yeah.”

His eyebrows dipped and something uneasy twisted in my stomach.

“The reports described you differently.”

Cild slid down my spine. Oh God…

“What reports?”

“I don't let anyone come into my estate without doing my homework on them. And my homework told me you were rather… wild.”

Valentina.

Panic rose so violently inside me I thought he might actually hear it, but I forced my expression to remain neutral.

“What if they exaggerated?” I asked carefully. “Maybe they didn’t know me well.”

Lucien didn’t answer; he just kept staring at me like he was studying me piece by piece.

Then slowly, he stood from the chair and walked toward me again. My heartbeat stumbled painfully as I watched him stop directly in front of me.

His eyes moved slowly across my face like he was finally seeing something clearly for the first time.

And when he spoke, his voice was almost quiet.

“You’re not Valentina.”